A Biblical Question for everyone?

Question

As a person struggling with beliefs and ideas in a society that is full of black and white type thinking, I have this question and I am very curious as to the answers.

The Bible, Quran, Torah, etc. were written by men, correct? They did not fall, fully formed and written, from the Heavens, correct? They are certain men's personal interpretation of possible divine intervention, ideas, and rules, correct?

If you agree, why do you think people take them so literally? So literally that it brings them to terrorize, murder, or even just allow themselves to close their mind to all other spiritual ideas and philosophies?

If you disagree, why do books written by men influence you so greatly? Do you believe these books are truly the divine word, straight from Heaven, with no tampering or personal bias from the men who wrote them? If so, what is your basis of belief?

Thanks in advance for all thoughtful answers :)

Answer 1

I think you have pretty well summarized the truth. The books are written based upon "someone's" divine communication.

Example: The New Testament is based upon the teaching and divine insights of Jesus, but it is not written by him.

I think the more proper relationship is to seek to learn from the books, to see their insights and stories. Then to take your learning, and quietly seek communication with your God, and learn directly from him. To seek divine knowledge yourself, building upon the teachings of the others.

Answer 2

Written by men, correct. Did not fall, fully formed, from the heavens, correct.

Men's personal interpretation? I cannot speak on the Quran. But the Bible and the Torah (the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible) are not personal interpretations. They were inspired by the true God. Since they are divinely inspired, they influence me greatly. I have come to know that God knows better than I what I can and cannot do; what I should and should not do. Moreover, I have come to learn that the Bible is from a supernatural source. Has personal bias crept into the scriptures? To a certain degree, yes. Has it been discovered? Yes. Corrected? Yes. Portions of 1 John 5:7 is an example that comes quickly to mind. Compare the latter part of this scripture in the Kings James Version with the same scripture in newer translations such as the NIV.

There are different avenues by which to determine whether the Bible is worthy of our observation. Science, medicine, history, integrity, accuracy. These things can be traced fairly easily. Many have done that. This is why I accept the Bible just as it claims - the inspired word of God.

Hannah J Paul

Answer 3

By and large, it's a matter of conditioning -- people have this stuff foisted on them (whatever their religion) from a very young age, before they've developed the critical thinking skills necessary to examine these belief systems objectively and skeptically.

That's why I'm so grateful that religion was never mentioned in the Chateau de Soleil when I was growing up -- when I was finally old enough to start being curious about what this "religion" stuff was all about, I already had the mental tools to really study them and realize that they're just another batch of myths -- no different than Thor, or Zeus, or Quetzlcoatl....

Answer 4

Yes, the books of the Bible were written by men. However they wrote it under the inspiration of the Spirit. The Bible has proven itself to me (and millions of other Christians) many times over. Yes, there are very minor issues with some less-than-ideal translations of words, but the main points are correct.

Answer 5

I follow the Bible. God did write the 10 commandments on 2 stone tablets. The Bible is inspired by God, so man wrote what God wanted written. There may be some minor differences in translations, but the message is the same.

Answer 6

Well because other people go out of their way to misinterpret the Bible and take it literally there is ideas that fall short of what God expected. But faith has a lot to do, God did sent the Ten Commandments and the Our Father as a guide for us to understand what he wants. You really have to have faith and by this I mean it is up to you or what your family has taught you. Some religions are a means for fanatical behaviour and therefore do not stem from what God really wanted.

Answer 7

I grew up in baptist churches, my dad was a pastor. When I was a child I believed the stories because my parents told me they were true. As I got older and learned more and more about the bible and the wild stories vs. the known facts of nature and matter I was learning about in school, it became clear to me that it was just fairytales. Now, as an atheist, it's hard for me to take adults seriously who still follow any of these old predjudicial books like they DID fall from the sky wrapped in gold. It's nuts.

Answer 8

Hello,

Well according to the bible itself, the only thing written by God himself was the ten commandments. where essentially his hand so to speak came down from heaven and wrote on the stone tablets. The only case where direct dictation was taken down in conversation with God was in the case of John of Patmos in the book of Revelation where God told John to write down his critique of the various churches around the Roman Empire.

Those who wrote the bible were doing so to tell mankind how to please God and live in harmony with one another or not be involved with those who did not believe (old testament). They were not there to explain to an initial nomadic society, lacking in modern technology the secrets of the universe, plate tectonics, quantum mechanics, electronics or the genetic code. Therefore there is much allegory and metaphor in the bible used as a teaching tool and other forms of writing like Hebrew parallelism of thought found in Revelation for example.

The bible to me is therefore an instruction manual on how to live properly, please God, again live in harmony with your fellow man even if he is your enemy (new testament and covonent) and ultimatey achieve salvation through Jesus and what things can go wrong when you do not. What it is not is a good history or science book since the earth is 4 billion years old, not 6000 and what God's day length really is... there it fails as a science book. The philosophies of life, political intrigue and social engineering of ancient societies is not explained or addressed and there it fails as a good history book.

The Quran was first given verbally to Mohammed and apparently he did not read and write like Christ did so he would have his visits in the cave with the spiritual entity and verbally dictate the words to the various scribes whose books are in the Quran.

That said, I take things like thou shalt not commit adultery, love your neighbor as yourself, I am the vine you are the branches etc very literally but Noah through to the 7 day creation, no. I will be judged on the former, not the latter.
As for terrorism and murder, there are many who can take the bible or Quran,, shuffle words and ideas around to match their own conveniences and agendas and do bad things in the name of it. Like they say, the Devil himself can quote the bible. Just as an instructiom manual, when you don't follow the guide step by step and pay attention to the details, jump ahead to a new instruction without properly assessing and completing the rest you end up with big problems.

Regards,

Michael Kelly

Answer 9

God uses men and women as instruments of His Spirit on this earth. The Bible has been judged and tested by thousands of scholars. It has been canonized just like when the Roman Catholic Church canonizes a saint.

Every book that had been included in the Bible has been confirmed and tested and retested to be authentically written as the inspired Word of God.

Those of us who continue to follow the Bible's teachings in this day and all those who have gone before are further proof of it's authenticity by the evidence of How it changes and transforms our lives.

S

Answer 10

People take the bible literally because they believe that it's the absolute word of god. They believe that it's the absolute word of god because their parents told them it was; and since children always believe their parents, whether their parents are right or not, the children will grow up believing that. Children, when indoctrinated by religion, don't have the knowledge, common sense, and independance needed to fight it off.